Gong - "Camembert Electrique" Vinyl, LP, Album, France, 1971 (BYG Records/Acteul)

My old friend Gary introduced me to this band around 1972, and I couldn't get my head around it.  Just too hippy, crazy, too foreign, and in other words, too odd.  Still, on the same day, he also played me early Kevin Ayers, and that too was a challenging listening experience for me.  Decades later, either out of boredom, my jet-lag sensibility, I purchased this album at Rockaway Records in Silver Lake.  Now, as I listen to Gong's "Camembert Electrique" I think it's a masterpiece.

Daevid Allen started the group (if memory serves me correctly, I was put off by the spelling of his first name as well as disliking the album) and somehow ended up in France.  A band, a cult - I'm not sure.  There is for sure a thought that they live on a planet called 'Gong,' but a world that had instruments, that's certain.   Still, the music is brilliant.  Hypnotic, melodic, and in places, reminds me of David Bowie of the Ziggy period.  There is also touches of The Soft Machine, which should be no surprise because Allen was a founding member of that band.

The other voice beside Daevid is Gilli Smith, who has a sinister whisper and adds a certain intensity to the mix.   For a bunch of French/British/Aussie Hippies, they are very tight and focused.  It's psychedelic for sure but has a robust rock approach to their overall sound. This is my first entrance into the rabbit hole that's Gong.

Robert Wyatt - "68'" Blue Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, Album, 2013 (Cuneiform Records)

Robert Wyatt is one of the wonders of the music planet.  Is there even a bad record with Wyatt's connection in existence?  I don't think so.   When you're going through his catalog of recordings, you're choosing from pretty good to exceptionally perfect.  So you can't lose with Wyatt.  "68'" is an album or is it a set of demos?   Recorded after his American tour with Soft Machine on the same bill with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Wyatt stayed in America to record this album and hang out with Jimi and gang.   Very much a self-recording with some assistance from Hendrix playing bass on "Slow Walkin' Talk" and fellow Soft Machine pals Hugh Hopper and Mike Ratledge on "Moon in June," this is very much Wyatt on all vocals and instruments.  

The essential jazzy touch and "Rock Bottom" aesthetic is very much part of this early recording by Wyatt.   The standout tracks (out of four) are "Moon in June" which is both free-form as well as a tight 'pop' melody and an amazing song "Chelsea" which was either co-written by Kevin Ayers or perhaps with the help of very early Soft Machine member Daevid Allen.  "Chelsea" is a Wyatt beauty with a prominent organ playing throughout the song.  The album is very much the bridge between the first Soft Machine album and Wyatt's "Rock Bottom."  Essential for the Wyatt fan, and if you're not, you should be one.